Rail-bond.



110.834,690., i s PATENTED 00T.so,'1906.'

0.11. STURDEVANT.

RAIL BOND. LIUA'TION FILED JULY 7. 1905.

' NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES R. STURDEVANT, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T-O AMERICAN STEEL & WIRE COMPANY, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHU- SETTS, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

RAIL-BOND..

Specification o'f Letters Patent.

Application filed July 7, 1905. Serial No. 268,717.

Patented Oct. 30, 1906.

5 Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Bonds and I do hereby declare the followin to be a full, clear, and exact descri tion of t e invention, such as will enable ot ers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. j

M invention relates to the constructionof the ond and the manner of applying it to the rails.

The articular objects in view are to provide a bond which shall aord a large contact area with each rail and which can be eifectively'secured to the rail by expanding the studor studs which project from its terminals into bottomed cavities or cup-shaped holes in the 'rails by simply driving them therein in contradistinction to riveting or otherwise securing them in openings or perforations passing through the rails and without the necessity of employing special fastenings or requiring. the use of particular compressors o r other tools or driving devices. Further objects are to locate the bond in the most advantageous position with res ect to its installation, to shorten the lengt of the connector between the terminals of the bond, and vto secure a maximum of contact area and a minimum of contact resistance for a given uantity of metal in the bond, 4also to permit t e bond to be easily and quickly installed at a lowcost due to thefact of its particular location and the further fact that it may be applied by unskilled labor without the employment o special tools."

' Other objects are to f rovide additional means for preventing t e terminal studs from working loose in their holes in the rails and to reduce the liability of ,corrosion of the contact-surfaces between the terminal studs and the rails by. rotecting the joint at the outer edge of the llioles in the rails.

'Heretofore solid terminal stud-bonds have been installed by inserting terminal studs through holes in the rail-section andthen gckgompressing the terminals in these holes by special hydraulic or screw-compressor tools. After\the terminal has been inserted the hole compression isapplied to the opposite ends of said terminal to expand the metal in the hole and force the end portions of the terminal which project beyond the sides of the rail out over the rail-surfaces. The compressors used for this purpose are heavy and cumbersome and diicult to handle and are likewise very expensive to makeand keep in repair. Moreover, the permanency and eiiciency of the contact which the terminals make with the rail when thus com ressed will depend to a large extent upon t e particular desi of the compressor and u on the skill wit which it is manipulated. oor workmanship or badly-designed compressortools will lead to corroded contact-surfaces, which will destroy the efficiency and usefulness of the bondf It is therefore evident that a method of applying these terminals which will obviate the use of these compressors will possess eat advantage. In a lying terminals o this character it is higg y essential to obtain a very intense pressure between the copper of the terminal and the steel of the conductor-rail, so as to insure alow contact resistance and to permanently exclude all traces of air and moisture. I have found that if a pro erly-designed copper terminal be driven wit great force into a cup-shaped holle drilled artly through a rail-section the terminal will)make a very rigid and intimate contact with the metal of the rail, resulting in as low a contact resistance as it is possible to obtain under the best conditions of operation by the most efficient type of hydraulic compressor and with the most highly-skilled labor. The construction of the. bond and the mode-of av plying the `saine greatly reduces the cost op application, produces a stronger railsection, insures eater uniformity in results, increases the e ective area of contact,

and practically eliminates the possibility of moisture entering and corroding the joint.

In'the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 indicates a fragmentary end view of a rail, showing the bond in its initial position. Fig.

2 is a similar view showing in section a simle form of tool for driving the 'studs of the Fond into the holes in the rail-section. Fig. 3 is a corresponding .view showing the head 'of the rail partly in section and the mode of u settin or turning the metal at the ed e o the hole into the body of the terminalstu s.

Fig. 4 is a view corresponding to Fig. 1, show.-

vIOO v JOS ing the completed bond. Fig. 5 is a side -view of the adjacent ends of two rails havin the completed bond applied thereto.

eferring to the drawings, a indicates the head of adj acentrail-sections, which are provided on their outer sides with bottomed cavities or cu -shaped holes b, drilled into the body of t e head and preferably rovidedwith a conical bottom portion. T ere are as many of these holes b provided in the end of each rail-section as there are studs on the coperating terminals of the bond.

Each bond consists of two solid metal terminals, referably comprisin a T-shaped head 6,0 cop er, at eachend,w `ch are joined by suitable exible conducting means, illustrated in the drawings as two strand wirecable sections f f, intimately united to the heads c of the. terminals. Projecting from the inside face of the bod or head c of each terminal is one or a plura ity of studs e, preferably two in number, which are ada ted to engage the corresponding cup-shape holes in the sides of the rail-heads a. On the outer face of each terminal head c thereis rovided integral bosses or projections d, w 'ch are included within the area of the head or body c and are preferably tapered outwardly to afford suiiicient metal, to ether with studs e when the terminal is su jected to heavy blows from a hammer or suitable'tool to comletely ill the cavities or holes b in the railead. The length of the studs e is slightly greater than the depth of the holes b, so that when the ductile metal of the studs and the terminal headl c is compressed under the riveting action ofthe hammer or u settingtool it will flow into every portion o thecavity or hole and establish a most eflicient electrical contact between the metal of the terminal and the rail a. l

In applyin the bond to the cavities or rail-sectlons t e holes b are roperly spaced by means of a templet and) are drilled to the (pro er depth into the body of the railhea heads c are then inserted in t eir appropriate holes. An upsetting-tool ofthe character shown in Fig. 2 is inserted over the boss d and a few heavy blows of a hammer delivered to the plunger-head n of saidtool, which serves to force the studs e into the cavity or hole and to upset the boss or projection d on the outerface of the head c sufficiently to cause the metal to expand 'over the sides of the rail about the holes to a slight de ee, as

indicated in Fig. 3. By means of a c 'sel or other u settin -tool ortions of the metal in the ra' ead a out t e cavities or holes b are driven into the body of the studs e as. indicated in Fi s. 3 and 5, after which the upsetting-tool (ill to the head of the terminal'and t e metal in the projection d still yfurther upset.and compressed until the terminal assumes the ulti-.-

. he studs on the res ective terminal.

ustrated in Fig. 2) is a ain applied mate form shown in Fig. 4,; whereby the metal in the studs e is forced with great pressure a ainst the sides and bottom of .the cavities oroles b, and the inner face of the terminal head c is caused to closely hug the surface of the rail-head about and between said holes b. By providing two or three indentations or projections Z bylmeans of the upsetting chisel or punch t e studs e will be securely locked within the cavities or holes b, and no amount of shock or jar incident to trafc over the rail will serve to loosen them, and, furthermore, the whole inner surface vof the terminal head c will be held in intimate electrical contact with the side of the railheads a.

Itis to be noted that in addition'to the increased contact area afforded by the multiple studs e, which are forced into and engage the walls and bottoms of the cavities or holes b with heavy pressure and over a large area of surface contact, the location of the holes inthe side of the rail-head 1l eatly simplifies the operation of drilling t e rail for the reception of the bond and renders the operation of installing the bond both easy and expeditious, even with unskilled labor, and, furthermore, the fact that the holes may be located quite close to the ends of therailsections enables a much shorterconductor f to be employed, which may be given any desired capacity by increasing the number of cable-sections employed. 1t is also to be noted that the connection between the bond and the rail is above the upper edge of the fish-plate, thereby avoiding the excessive length of connector common to the old form of bonds, which were necessarily made longer.

It will be observed that a bond constructed in accordance with this invention resents IOC two or more terminals at each end, w 'ch are held under great pressure in bottomed cavities or cup-shaped holes in the side of the rail-heads adjacent to the ends thereof by forcing the metal of the bosses d into the body of the head c and driving a corresponding quantity of metal from the head into the studs e, which affords a large conductive capacity at the joints thus formed and also enables short thick conductors f to be em loyed, thereby reducin the resistance in t element of the bon and effecting a large saving in copper. The location of the cavities or holes in the sides of the rail-heads enables the drilling to be effected expeditiously and also affords an intimate connection between the whole inner surface of the terminal heads and the studs thereof with the metal of the conductor-rail.

While I have illustrated a special tool for upsetting the .bosses or projections on the or cup-shaped holes in the rail-heads, it.is to be understood that the invention is not dependent for its successful application upon the employment of any special tool, as the 5 upsetting and driving operations may be eifected by a few direct and heavy blows of a hammer delivered upon the bosses on the head ofthe terminal.

Having thus described my invention, what 1o I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A rail-bond comprising a lexible connector, a solid terminal, an integral drivingstud projecting from the inner face of the 15 terminal, and a boss or enlargement u on the outer facel of the terminal 1n line with the stud, said stud being constructed and adapted to be secured in a bottomed cavity in the rail by being eX anded therein by driving zo compression applied to the boss or enlargement. '1-

v2. A rail-bond combined with ya air of rails having. .bottomed cavities, sai bond comprisinga flexible connector, solid termi- `z 5 nals, and an integral driving-stud projecting from the inner face of each terminal, said studs being driven into cavities in the rails and secured therein by the expansion of'their metal that is due to the driving compression.

3o 3. A rail-bond, combined with a pair of rails having bottomed cavities in the heads thereof, said bond having a flexible connec- @t or having solid terminals, and integral studs JJprojecting from the inner faces ofhthe4 termi- 3 5 nals, said studs being secured to thel'rails by l' expanding them in the rail-cavities'fby driving compression.

calked or indented and covered by the upset bosses or enlargements of the terminals.

5. A rail-bondcomprising a .iiexible connector and solid terminals, each of said terminals having a plurality of studs on its inner face, and bosses or enlargements on the outer face of the terminals in alinement with the studs.

6. A rail-bond comprising solid terminals, a ieXible connector, unitedl to one edge thereof, and a lurality of laterally-extending integral stu s roj'ecting from the innerface of each termina the conductor being connected to the terminals at points between the studs.

7. A rail-bond comprising a multiple flexible loop-shaped connector, and solid T- shaped terminals connected thereto, each of sai terminals having a plurality ofstuds on its inner face, and bosses or enlargementsl on its outer face in alinement with the studs.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES R. STURDEVANT.

Witnesses: i

lH. M. LATHAM, Trios. MACDUFF. 

